Scarlett Johansson has won legal damages against a French author whose novel features a promiscuous character based on the Hollywood actress.

Lawyers working for Johansson, 29, told a court in Paris that writer Gregoire Delacourt had invented a series of love affairs with other celebrities amounting to a 'fraudulent use of her personal rights'.

Delacourt had argued that the Johansson character in his book 'The First Thing We Look At' was in fact meant as a 'tribute' to her beauty.

Upset: Lawyers working for Hollywood star Scarlett Johansson claimed a novel features a promiscuous character based on her amounted to a 'fraudulent use of her personal rights'

Claims: Author Gregoire Delacourt (left) argued that the Johansson character in his book 'The First Thing We Look At' (right) was in fact meant as a 'tribute' to her beauty

Johansson's lawyer Vincent Toledano told the court Delacourt's book presented her as a 'sex object' and that a series of love affairs detailed in the work never took place.

The book's offending scene comes when a mysterious blonde woman that the author describes as Johansson's 'exact double' asks for help at the house of a car mechanic in a French village.

RELATED ARTICLES

Share this article

The mechanic is described as looking like 'a better version of Ryan Gosling'.

Delacourt said he never meant the scene to offend, adding: 'It was meant as the highest praise. She is an archetypal beauty of our times, very human with a touching fragility.

'She is a wonderful, iconic actress. I was hoping that she might send me flowers because this book is, in a way, a declaration of love,' he went on to say.

Big name: Delacourt said his work is meant to be a satire on celebrity culture, but would think twice about referring to Johansson (pictured here being honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame) in future

Characters in the book are also based on actors Gene Hackman (left) and Ryan Gosling (right). The mechanic that Johansson's character is romantically linked with is described as 'a better version of Ryan Gosling'

Delacourt said his work is meant to be a satire on celebrity culture, but would think twice about referring to Johannsson in future.

'If I had known she was going to kick up such a racket, I would have picked another actress.

'All these famous people live with us all the time. Celebrity culture is imposed on us by the media, the press and the Internet,' Delacourt added.

'So her complaint is based on exactly the phenomenon I am denouncing. It's a paradox. But I suppose it's all very American,' he went on to say.

As part of her legal action, Johansson sought an injunction to stop the novel being translated or adapted for cinema. That particular request was thrown out by the Paris court.

She had also demanded £40,000 in damages for the 'fraudulent use of her personal rights' but that figure was significantly reduced to just £2,000 by the judge.

Speaking after the verdict, Delacourt described the sum he had been ordered to pay 'derisory'.